What's the best heritage breed for a meat bird?

[brahmabreeder]

My white rocks I processed gave less meat than those brahmas and they were about that age.

 

[LilyD]

My white rocks I processed gave less meat than those brahmas and they were about that age.

Not sure why. These guys free ranged all day from about 3 or 4 weeks through until about a month ago. The ones I still have get out for part of the day but stay in the other part so the hens can get out too. They eat a broiler feed and I only fill their feeder at night and they eat bugs and other things all day.

 

[1muttsfan]

I have been happy with the Delawares I got from Sandhill, not so much with some of the others. I would not process until 18-20 weeks though.

 

[imthedude]

I think I've decided on Jersey Giants, maybe some Brahmas, and some Delawares. Shooting for 20 weeks to butcher. Hopefully they will have put on enough meat by then to make a decent meal.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Going with what Ridgerunner said I'd look at White Rocks, Delawares, or New Hampshires in about that order. Those were the commercial meat birds of their day and they are the ones that you will most likely be able to eventually get back to something like what they used to be.

Mature size is only part of the game here, the terminal part so to speak. How fast they grow (as in how tough or tender they will be at slaughter) and their feed conversion (how much feed per pound of body weight) are also very important considerations. The three breeds I mentioned above won't grow as large as a well-bred Jersey Giant or Brahma, but they'll give you a better pounds of feed to pounds of bird conversion and they'll do it in less time so in the end you get more pounds of chicken meat for the fewest pounds of feed.

No matter what you do though you are not going to approximate what pretty much any kind of modern day commercial broiler cross can do in finish weight, feed conversion, or speed of growth. You'll have to go back to the older pre-1050's mindset of what is possible and not possible.

 

[15littlem]

How big do your New Hampshires, White Rocks, and Delawares compared to Brahmas? Also, which ones go broody the most?

 

[oshun55555]

Brahmas are my main meat bird, ate one tonite 5 months old 6 lb, no hatchery birds. Now tell me this is a scrawny bird.

 

[Island Roo]